Excerpt from The Book of the Court: Exhibiting the History, Duties, and Privileges of the Several Ranks of the English Nobility and Gentry, Particularly of the Great Officers of State, and Members of the Royal Household A book without a preface is an anomaly. Custom demands a preface, even though it be brief as the posy of a ring; and every writer finds at least when his book is finished, if not before, the benefit and expediency of paying the tax, and of availing himself of the Opportunity thereby afforded, to apologise for the sins of omission, and commission, of which he has been guilty, and to pro pitiate, as far as possible, by a statement of what he wished to have done, the favorable judgment of the public upon what he has actually accomplished. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.